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Until I found myself house bound by 11 inches of snow in Winter 2009, I
had struggled to think of a use for my block of Sculpey Ultra Light.
This lightweight
polymer clay has quite a different texture from traditional polymer clays
but bakes to a similar durable finish.
The clay can be tinted using coloured polymer clays (as with this
snowman's flat cap) and it can be used with other clays to create the
eyes, buttons, stick arms and carrot noses. I tried not to use too
much traditional polymer clay as this would defeat the object of using the
lighter Sculpey Ultra Light.
It is essential that you push the pieces together firmly to ensure
that they fuse together during baking. I learnt this the hard way
and had to glue a couple of the smaller pieces back in place with PVA.
I used a long thin needle to make the hole through the length of the
snowman's body prior to baking him and then used the same needle to feed
in the thread. Tie a piece of cocktail stick or a bead to the end of
the thread to stop the snowman from falling off.
The mobile was quite tricky to put together and is constructed from
a few wooden sticks and the help of an extra pair of hands. If you haven't got the
patience to balance it out and tie up the lengths of thread, the snowmen
can be hung individually to make charming Christmas Tree decorations or
window ornaments.
By Allison Holland |